John,

A few months ago, I became the first member of Congress to call on Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from the Supreme Court. It’s not something I did lightly, but it remains a necessary step to saving our democracy.

Today, I’d like to renew that call, and to explain why this is so important — especially right now.

Throughout his nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court, Justice Breyer has supported racial equity and reproductive justice, and remained a stalwart champion for a strong and healthy democracy. I admire his ability to uphold the law while maintaining moral clarity both as an American and as a lawyer.

Right now, the best way for Justice Breyer to demonstrate that commitment to justice is for him to retire. This will allow President Biden to appoint a successor who will carry on Justice Breyer’s legacy by protecting the right to vote, reproductive rights, and equality for racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people.

Remember, Mitch McConnell has proven that he has no qualms about exploiting loopholes in Senate procedure to ram through conservative justices’ nominations. (That is, of course, how we ended up with Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.)

By retiring, Justice Breyer can block the possibility of a 7-2 conservative majority on the court, which could throw Americans’ civil liberties even further into jeopardy for generations to come.

Of course, I recognize that Justice Breyer’s retirement will not fix everything that’s wrong with the Roberts Court. I remain committed to abolishing the filibuster and passing legislation to add four seats to the Supreme Court to restore ideological balance. That way, we can avoid begging individual justices to retire for the sake of our democracy every few years.

Thank you for reading,

Mondaire